ROBERT L. DISE, JR. THE BENEFICIARII PROCURATORIS OF CELEIA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE S TATIO NETWORK aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 113 (1996) 286–292 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 286 THE BENEFICIARII PROCURAT ORIS OF CELEIA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE S TATIO NETWORK1 Early in the second century, the Roman government began to create a series of posts, or stationes, at key points along major roads in the provinces of the empire.2 At first few in number and widely scattered, during and after the Marcomannic wars their number multiplied dramatically, and by early in the third century the stationes had become a common feature in many provinces and a key element in the appara- tus of administration. 1 In this article the following abbreviations will be used: Alföldy, Noricum G. Alföldy, Noricum (London 1974). CBFIR E. Schallmayer et al., Der römische Weihebezirk von Osterburken I, Corpus der griechischen und lateinischen Beneficiarier-Inschriften des Römischen Reiches, (Stuttgart 1990). Lieb H. Lieb, "Expleta Statione", in Britain and Rome, ed. M.G. Jarrett and B. Dobson (Kendal 1965) 139- 144. Mirkoviç M. Mirkoviç, "Beneficiarii Consularis and the new Outpost in Sirmium", Roman Frontier Studies 1989 (Exeter 1990) 252-256. Ott J. Ott, Der Beneficiarier (Stuttgart 1995). Rangordnung 2 A. von Domaszewski and D.J. Breeze, Die Rangordnung des römischen Heeres (Köln2 1967). Rankov N.B. Rankov, "A Contribution to the Military and Administrative History of Montana", Ancient Bul- garia (Nottingham 1983) 40-73 Schallmayer RFS 1989 E. Schallmayer, "Zur Herkunft und Funktion der Beneficiarier", Roman Frontier Studies 1989 (Exeter 1991) 400-406. Additional bibliography: Van Berchem, E., L'annone militaire dans ;'Empire romain au IIIe siécle (Paris 1938). Bradford Peaks, M., The General Civil and Military Administration of Noricum and Raetia (Chicago 1907). von Domaszewski, A., "Die Beneficiarierposten und die römischen Straßennetze", Westdeutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kunst, vol. 21, 1902, 158-211. Harris, W.V., Ancient Literacy (Harvard 1989). Hirschfeld, O., "Die Sicherheitspolizei im römischen Kaiserreich", Sitzungsberichte der königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin, 1891, 845-877. Holder, P.A., Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army from Augustus to Trajan (BAR 70 1980). Kraft, K., Zur Rekrutierung der Alen und Kohorten an Rhein und Donau (Bern 1951). MacMullen, R., Soldier and Civilian in the Latter Roman Empire (Harvard 1963). — — —, Enemies of the Roman Order (Harvard 1966). Ørsted, P., Roman Imperial Economy and Romanization (Copenhagen 1985). Pflaum, H.-G., Essai sur le cursus publicus sous le Haut-Empire romain (Paris 1940). — — —, Les carri 5res procuratoriennes équestres sous le haut-empire romain, 3 vols. (Paris 1960), with suppl. (Paris 1982). Popoviç, V., "Une station de bénéficiaires a Sirmium", Comptes rendus de ;'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Jan.-Mar. 1989, 116-123. Robert, L., "Une Épitaphe d'Olympos", Hellenica, 1975, 172-177. Sasel Kos, M., "Inhabitants of Celeia in the Light of the Onomastic and Prosopographic Evidence", Ziva Antika 34, 1984, 251-255 Schallmayer, E., " Ein Kultzentrum der Römer in Osterburken", Der Keltenfürst von Hochdorf, ed. D. Planck (Stuttgart 1985), 377-407. — — —, "Neue Funde aus dem Bereich des Benefiziarier-Weihebezirks von Osterburken, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis", Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 1984, 147-149. — — —, "Ausgrabungen eines Benefiziarier-Weihebezirks und römischer Holzbauten in Osterburken", Studien zu den Mili- tärgrenzen Roms III, Vorträge des 13. Internationalen Limeskongresses, Aalen 1983 (Stuttgart 1986) 256-261. — — —, "Neue Untersuchungen beim Benefiziarier-Weihebezirk von Osterburken", Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 1986, 105-109. Wilkes, J.J., Dalmatia (London 1968). Winkler, G., Die Reichsbeamten von Noricum und ihr Personal (Vienna 1969). 2 The seminal work on the statio network is Alfred von Domaszewski's "The Beneficiarierposten" (n. 1, bibl.). Otto Hirschfeld touched on aspects of the system in "Die Sicherheitspolizei". The Beneficiarii Procuratoris of Celeia and the Development of the Statio Network 287 The stationes were manned by beneficiarii attached to the governors. We owe our knowledge of the statio network to these beneficiarii, for the custom grew up among them of erecting votive altars at the stationes where they served. Hundreds of these altars survive,3 in quantities that range at particular sites from one or two up- wards to more than eighty.4 Unfortunately, the vast majority of these altars date to the period of explo- sive growth in the statio network, from about 170 to the early third century.5 Consequently, we know very little about the first half-century of the system. There is, howerver, one statio from which a sizable body of early evidence does survive. That statio was at Celeia, in southeasternmost Noricum, where twenty altars are known dedicated by beneficiarii of the praesidial procurators who governed Noricum down to the Marcomannic wars.6 Careful examination of the information contained in these texts can illuminate key issues in the history both of the Celeian statio and of the statio system that emerged later. In particular, it can shed varying amounts of light on internal administrative questions involving the beneficiarii themselves, questions such as their citizenship status, the sources from which they were drawn, their manning levels at the stationes , and the duration of their assignments. Examination of these issues can provide insight into the evolution of administrative practice in the early statio system, the degree of uniformity in that system, and the extent of continuity between the early system and the mature one that emerged during the late second century. It can also afford a comparison between the internal administration of the stationes in provinces governed by equestrian procurators and that of sta- tiones in provinces governed by senatorial legates. The Celeian texts themselves are simply described. Nineteen of them are dedications to Iuppiter Op- timus Maximus, the remaining altar being dedicated to Epona Augusta.7 With only rare and inconse- quential variations, the texts adhere to a standard four-part formula: first, IOM; second, the name of the dedicating beneficiarius in the nominative; third, the title of the beneficiarius, in the form b(ene)f(iciar- ius), followed by the name of the procurator in the genitive and proc(uratoris) Aug(usti); finally, v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito). The remarkable standardization of these texts across the span of half a century strongly suggests that they were the formulaic product of a local workshop. The titulature of the Celeian beneficiarii was identical in style to that of early beneficiarii every- where else in the empire. In particular, the central place accorded to governors' names was universal down to ca. 160.8 It is reasonable to infer that this indicates the existence of strong personal links be- tween the governors and their beneficiarii (Mirkoviç, 255). It has also been taken to mean that only con- sular governors had the authority to appoint men as beneficiarii (Marcoviç, 255), but the use of this tit- 3 All inscriptions of beneficiarii published through 1986 have been collected by E. Schallmayer et al., in CBFIR. 4 A few stationes on the Rhine and Danube frontiers have yielded large caches of inscriptions. These stationes include Stockstadt and Osterburken in Germania superior, with twenty and thirty texts respectively, Praetorium Latobicorum in Pan- nonia superior, with seventeen, and Celeia, with twenty-seven. Osterburken has been analyzed in a series of pieces by Schallmayer, who excavated the site (see above, n. 1, bibl.). As substantial as these troves are, they pale before the greatest cache of all, which was found in 1988 when a statio was discovered at Sirmium in Pannonia inferior: more than eighty bene- ficiarial altars are reported to have been associated with the remains of the site. At this writing, the texts of the Sirmium altars have yet to be published, but summaries of the information contained in them can be found in Mirkoviç, as well as in her article "Sirmium et l'armée romaine", Arheoloski vestnik 41, 1990, 631-642. 5 Several articles published since the 1960s have explored, in whole or in part, aspects of the later stationes. Those arti- cles are Lieb, Rankov, Schallmayer, RFS 1989; Mirkoviç, and V. Popoviç, "Une station" (n. 1, bibl.). 6 These altars represent a total of eighteen beneficiarii, since two of the men each dedicated two altars: CIL 3.5175 (CBFIR 240) and CIL 3.5176 (CBFIR 237); CIL 3.5161 (CBFIR 220), and CIL 3.5162 (CBFIR 221). 7 CIL 3.5176 (CBFIR 237). This is one of the two cases in which a beneficiarius erected two altars. 8 Examples from the Danube region include bf Ummidi[i] Quadrat[i] cos (ca. AD 120, Regnum Bosporanum: CBFIR 658); vet leg VII CI p f … b(eneficiarius) M V(alerii) E(trusci) leg consular (ca. AD 150-160?, Scupi: CBFIR 600). Mirkoviç offers eight examples from elsewhere in the empire, ranging in date from AD 77 to 165: 254-255. A text from Narona dated to after AD 212 (CIL 3.1783 [CBFIR 495]) has been restored by one editor in this titulary style (Schallmayer, in CBFIR p. 388), but the stone is damaged and the restoration is extensive, and other scholars have restored the text differently (cf. Rangordnung2, 205). 288 R.L. Dise ulary style in procuratorial Noricum demonstrates that this view is mistaken, and that praesidial procura- tors enjoyed the same rights of appointment as did consular legates. The inscriptions reveal a statio with a complex history, a history that was linked to those of other stationes and therefore to the history of the network as a whole. The statio was founded during Trajan's principate, its earliest beneficiarial inscription dating to ca. 110 (CIL 3.5179 [CBFIR 222]). This makes its foundation contemporary with that of the statio at Sirmium (Mirkoviç, 252), which lay at the Danu- bian terminus of the road that crossed from Italy into Noricum at Atrans, and ran through Celeia.